Wireless mobile communication devices, such as smart phones or other mobile devices, may download and run applications that communicate via a network, such as a cellular network to which the wireless mobile device is connected. Some applications can (intentionally or unintentionally) cause or contribute to network congestion. In the case of a wireless cellular network, the radio access network (RAN) portion of the network may be particularly subject to congestion. Additionally, some applications can cause other issues, such as issues relating to transmission of private information without user consent or the enablement of illegal or other prohibited activities.
One proposal to limit network activity on an application-basis is known as ACDC (Application specific Congestion control for Data Communication), as proposed in Release 13 of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). An objective of ACDC is to provide network operators a mechanism to allow or prohibit with respect to particular applications defined by network operators.